Daisy-kicker, the name ostlers at large inns used to give each other, now nearly obsolete. Daisy-kicker, or GROGHAM, was likewise the cant term for a horse. The DAISY-KICKERS were sad rogues in the old posting days; frequently the landlords rented the stables to them, as the only plan to make them return a profit.
Damage, in the sense of recompense; “what’s the DAMAGE?” i.e., what is to pay? or actually, what is the DAMAGE to my pocket?
Damper, a shop till; to DRAW A DAMPER, i.e., rob a till. A till is more modernly called a “lob,” and stealing from tills is known as “lob-sneaking.”
Dancer, or dancing-master, a thief who prowls about the roofs of houses, and effects an entrance by attic windows, &c. Called also a “garreter.”
Dance upon nothing, to be hanged.
Dander, passion or temper; “to get one’s DANDER up,” to rouse his passion.—Old, but now much used in America.
Dando, a great eater, who cheats at hotels, eating shops, oyster-cellars, &c., from a person of that name who lived many years ago, and who was an enormous oyster-eater. According to the stories related of him, Dando would visit an oyster-room, devour an almost fabulous quantity of bivalves, with porter and bread and butter to match, and then calmly state that he had no money.
Dandy, a fop, or fashionable nondescript. This word, in the sense of a fop, is of modern origin. Egan says it was first used in 1820, and Bee in 1816. Johnson does not mention it, although it is to be found in all late dictionaries. Dandies wore stays, studied a feminine style, and tried to undo their manhood by all manner of affectations which were not actually immoral. Lord Petersham headed them. At the present day dandies of this stamp have almost entirely disappeared, but the new school of muscular Christians is not altogether faultless. The feminine of DANDY was DANDIZETTE, but the term only lived for a short season.
Dandy, a small glass of whisky.—Irish. “Dimidium cyathi vero apud Metropolitanos Hibernicos dicitur DANDY.”—Father Tom and the Pope, in Blackwood’s Magazine for May 1838.